“Why am I playing like crap after practicing so much?!: Kobe Bryant revealed just how much he needed to get rest while balancing odd workout hours

Kobe Bryant talked about having not played games well due to a lack of sleep and how he learned to get enough rest. 

Perhaps the most fundamental reason for why Kobe Bryant was as skilled as he was, was due to the amount of hours he put into his craft. Working out early mornings and late nights while trying to squeeze in a training session in the afternoon is something only the Lakers legend was accustomed to doing. 

It has been well documented that Kobe Bryant used to wake up to get shots up at around 4am and would stay in the gym till it became dark out before heading back home a second time. Guys like Jay Williams, Chris Bosh, and other NBA legends opened up about their experience with having seen Bryant workout tirelessly.

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Kobe once said that Shaquille O’Neal would be the greatest player of all time if he had his mentality in striving to always get better; something Shaq himself admitted to having after winning his first title. 

Kobe Bryant on the importance of rest and sleep. 

Playing 82 games in the regular season, going deep into the postseason (something Kobe Bryant was likely to do each season), working out relentlessly in the offseason, and doing that all over again for 20 straight seasons would be taxing on anybody’s body. 

Kobe seemed to learned this the hard way and was taught a lesson about always getting an optimal amount of rest and sleep to recover from strenuous workouts.

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“My sleep habits were horrendous to say the least. I’ve always had a hard time sleeping. I couldn’t figure out a way to shut my brain off. So, what made the lightbulb come on is that I went out there and played a game and I played like crap. I was like, ‘Why am I playing like crap?’ because I had been practicing these same moves over and over again.” 

“But yet, I couldn’t execute them properly. I was feeling sluggish, I was feeling lethargic and I knew it wasn’t because of my training. I started looking at things and came to the realization that, ‘Hey Kob, you’re not 21 anymore. The fact that you’re sleeping 2-3 hours a night has something to do with it.”